Copyright and Fair Use

A Cautionary Tale

©Randy RodgersInstructional Technology SpecialistBirdville Independent School District

Pop Quiz!

You create a 3 minute YouTube video for a class project, setting images to a background track of “Clocks” by Coldplay. You cite Coldplay as the owners/authors of the song.

Fair use—go for it!

Copyright infringement—lights go out and you can’t be saved!

In a blog post for English, you quote and properly cite the entire text of a short poem (200 words) by Maya Angelou.

Poetic justice—it is fair use.

Copyright infringement! Don’t steal the rhyme if you can’t do the time!

In a multimedia presentation, you use 2 minutes of video from an ABC News broadcast on Hurricane Ike.

Breaking news: it is fair use!

It is copyright infringement and could be disastrous!

Copyright infringement is punishable by up to 1 year in jail.

Absolutely. Cut-and-paste, go to jail (maybe).

You can’t be serious—it was just a Weird Al song.

You post information for a science research project on a wiki. You do not include a copyright statement. Is your work protected by copyright law?

No. You must include a statement of copyright and one of those little “C” thingies.

Yes. My original ideas are mine—get your own!

Factual information is protected by copyright law.

Fact is, yes.

Only the facts, ma’am—no protection.

Copyright is protected after the death of a work’s owner.Yes—even ghosts have rights

under copyright law.

No. They’re dead. What do they care?

That original dance move your cousin Boudreaux created is all the rage in the bayou. Can it be copyrighted.

Yes, you can bring the funk and the copyright protection, Boudreaux!

No, you have to have actual talent to be protected by copyright law.

What Can Be Copyrighted?

Music and lyrics

Original text

Movies, video, & multimedia

Architectural designs

Visual artworks

Dramatic works

Audio recordings

Dance, choreography, and pantomime

Source: Pierce, Aimee (2010). Copyright Law: A Brief Overview for Teaching Professionals

Guidelines for Fair Use

In order to fall under fair use guidelines, the borrowed work must:

Be for non-profit or educational use.

Fall within specific limits.

Not cause an adverse monetary effect on the original work/creator.

Guidelines for Fair Use

How much use is fair use?

Music: Shorter of 30 seconds or 10%

Video: Shorter of 30 seconds or 3 minutes

Poetry: Up to 3 works and 250 words

Text: Shorter of 1,000 words or 10%

Guidelines for Fair Use

How much use is fair use?

Photos: Up to 5 works by 1 photographer

Data: Lesser of 10% or 2,500 entries/fields

Source: Anderson, Steven (2008). Can You “Copy” That?

Guidelines for Fair Use

Number 1, ultimate, supreme, best option…

Get the owner’s

permission!

2 Words to Learn, Love, & Live…

Creative Commons

http://creativecommons.org/

What is Creative Commons?

A nonprofit corporation promoting the sharing of original works with other users for specific purposes and in specific ways.

Examples

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Examples

Examples

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Discussion

This presentation may be accessed and downloaded from

http://www.slideshare.net/rrodgers